For some years, buses, coaches, trailers and other vehicles have been modified and customized with various equipment and amenities to provide high-end, luxury motor homes and/or fully functioning traveling offices. Such vehicles are commonly designed with modular or multi-compartment construction, and can be retrofit to include, for example, a lounge, eating and sleeping quarters, an audio/visual facility, a lavatory, or the like. The special construction of these vehicles is provided to meet the particular needs and lifestyle requirements of certain clientele, such as television and motion picture celebrities, touring musical acts, corporate executives, famous athletes, politicians, sports teams and special interest groups. Several such buses and coaches of the type described above are commercially available from the assignee of the present invention.
In addition, there are other known multi-compartment vehicles which are modified to suit the needs of its human passengers. One type of customized vehicle is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,746, issued May 22, 1984 to Clark who sets forth a modular unit having a multi-compartment floor for mounting medical equipment.
Another customized vehicle is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,752, issued Dec. 18, 1984 to Broussard. In this patent, an expandable mobile home trailer has a floor plan with a split level and includes an upper body portion which is telescopically associated with the main body portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,774 issued Mar. 30, 1993 to Diaz discloses a motor coach having a fixed lower level and a fixed upper level accessible by stairs positioned in the middle of the lower level. The coach is designed and furnished to provide a mobile broadcasting studio.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,774, issued Jun. 29, 1999 to Tiedge shows a motor coach including a first occupiable section and a second occupiable section designed to move laterally relative to the first section to adjust the volume of an occupiable living space.
In the past, these multi-compartment, customized vehicles have been limited by size restriction so as to ensure safe transit on roads and highways. Some customized vehicles have also been limited with respect to internal living space available during vehicle travel. Recent Federal law changes have now made it possible to increase the permissible travel size of certain of these vehicles, namely trailers, so that passenger capacity and available storage and amenity space can be correspondingly increased to satisfy the demands of its clients.
Despite the known prior art, it remains desirable to provide a fully appointed, mobile, multi-purpose residence which presents a maximum amount of floor space and headroom for occupants in a parked condition. It is also desirable to provide a customized trailer which offers the ultimate in travel comfort and convenience. It is further desirable to provide a high occupancy vehicle which is extremely safe and undeniably versatile.